Darren McFadden has had a rough go of it, averaging just 3.3 yards per carry compared with last season, when he averaged 5.4.

Photo: Jamie Squire, Getty Images

Darren McFadden has had a rough go of it, averaging just 3.3 yards...

Image 2 of 4

Darren McFadden said the switch to more power blocking helped the running game. "It was a trickle-down effect, confidence for me, for the offensive line, for everybody out there," he said.

Photo: Reed Hoffmann, Associated Press

Darren McFadden said the switch to more power blocking helped the...

Image 3 of 4

Oakland Raiders running back Darren McFadden (20) is tackled by Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Glenn Dorsey during the first half of an NFL football game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

Photo: Ed Zurga, Associated Press

Oakland Raiders running back Darren McFadden (20) is tackled by...

Image 4 of 4

Oakland Raiders running back Darren McFadden #20 during an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

A couple of times early this season, first-year Raiders coach Dennis Allen resorted to the classic definition of insanity when he was asked about the team's history of penalties and trying to instill discipline.

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result," Allen said. "We've got to change, and if we don't change we'll see the same results."

Those words also sum up Oakland's 30th-ranked run game early in the season. But Allen and his staff are trying to show they are not insane on that front - and have shifted the way the Raiders go about running the ball over the past three games, employing more power-blocking schemes.

The result was impressive Sunday, when the Raiders had 95 yards on 20 carries in the fourth quarter against Kansas City, in what they hope was the start of something big rather than just trotting over the Chiefs' carcass.

"It was a trickle-down effect, confidence for me, for the offensive line, for everybody out there," said running back Darren McFadden, who ran for a season-high 114 yards on 29 carries against Kansas City. "Guys just kept hitting it hard and we think there is going to be a carryover."

McFadden had five runs of 10 yards or more Sunday, a positive sign for a player who is typically a big-play threat but came into that game with only four such plays all season. He had 12 carries for 73 yards (6.1 average) in the fourth quarter.

Those are the type of results McFadden was producing before being injured last season, when he averaged 5.4 yards per carry and teamed with Michael Bush to make the Raiders the league's ninth-best rushing team.

McFadden was averaging just 3.15 yards per carry this season before Sunday's game.

Offensive coordinator Greg Knapp preached patience with Allen's and his preference for a zone-blocking scheme - until he ran out of it.

"We had to make an adjustment, and that was a good adjustment for us," Knapp said. "It really has paid off."

Allen and Knapp are still zone-blocking guys, so scrapping that scheme - where the line kind of moves together, blocking off an area as opposed to individual defenders in hopes that the running back can make one cut and hit daylight - is not an option.

Center Stefen Wisniewski said the combination of schemes utilizes players' strengths and incorporates what they have done well in the past.

"Coming in was 'zone, zone, zone, zone.' But I think they're starting to get to know us better," Wisniewski said. "And we're getting to know them, and so they're seeing that we can be successful doing both.

"It is nice. You know, (the power-gap,) that's more of the stuff we ran last year, so most of us have a lot of experience in that, where we're still learning the zone scheme so it helps us because we're familiar with it and also it's a nice change-up. Teams aren't sure what's coming at them, and it makes us more likely to be successful."

Besides wearing down the Chiefs, Knapp said the Raiders kept them guessing. And they will have to do that again against Tampa Bay's sixth-ranked run defense this week.

"We definitely increased our gap run-blocking scheme to get a better balance and to keep defenses honest, and we've done it well," Knapp said. "So we'll keep that same kind of formula working, where it's a good changeup for us to have some kind of gap-scheme along with that outside zone. But the big runs came on that outside zone for us."

He hopes it pays off this weekend in the red zone. The Raiders have scored touchdowns on only 34.8 percent of trips inside the 20-yard line, second worst in the NFL. Oakland was seventh at 51.1 percent last season.

The Raiders are fourth-worst in the league at running in the red zone, averaging 2.27 yards per carry, and McFadden is even worse at 1.86 and just one touchdown.

"It's just executing and making the plays when they're presented," McFadden said. "We've had opportunities in the red zone. It's just a matter of executing plays when they're presented to us."

If they don't improve quickly, that might really drive Allen insane.

Briefly: Kicker Sebastian Janikowski is the AFC's October Special Teams Player of the Month. Janikowski, who hit 10 of 11 field goals in October, has now won three of the AFC's last six Special Teams Player of the Month honors. ... Cornerback Shawntae Spencer (foot), offensive tackle Khalif Barnes (groin) and linebacker Keenan Clayton (shoulder) missed practice again Thursday. Defensive tackle Richard Seymour returned after a day off to rest his knees.